New Zealand's freshly crowned bird of the year is on the wish list for Cape Sanctuary.
Despite fewer than 250 remaining, the kākāpō was crowned New Zealand's Bird of the Year for 2020.
The flightless parrot climbed to the top-spot for the second time in Forest & Bird's annual competition, which was plagued with fraudulent votes.
Throughout much of the two-week voting period, the toroa/Antipodean albatross topped the leader board, but the kākāpō flew (or walked) into the lead late on.
And, while Hawke's Bay does not home any kākāpō, the local sanctuary's general manager Rachel Ward said they'd like that to change.
"I would love to say we had them – but we don't.
"They are one of the species we are looking at bringing them in the next 10 years if all the stars align."
"If New Zealand reaches our predator control goals, such as Predator Free 2050, then there is no reason why kākāpō would not be able to be reintroduced to habitats across all of the mainland, including Hawke's Bay."
Bird of the Year spokeswoman Laura Keown said the kākāpō was the heaviest, longest-living and the only flightless and nocturnal parrot on earth.
This is the first time any bird has won the award more than once, after the kākāpō took also the title back in 2008.
The remainder of the top five included the kakaruia/black robin, kārearea/New Zealand falcon and the kererū.
While kākāpō once lived throughout New Zealand, they survive only on predator-free islands today.
According to NZBirdsOnline, they disappeared from the North Island by about 1930, but persisted longer in the wetter parts of the South Island. The last birds died out in Fiordland in the late 1980s.
"These birds were literally brought back from the brink of extinction. There were only 50 birds in the 1990s and they've been saved by intensive conservation efforts. Today there are 213 kākāpō," Keown said.
Keown added that 80 per cent on native birds are in trouble or facing extinction in New Zealand.
"We really need to protect and restore the places our birds call home. New Zealand can and should be full of birds for future generations, and future Bird of the Year competitions," she said.
The kākāpō was propelled to worldwide fame in 2009 after zoologist Mark Carwardine had an over-friendly encounter with the bird in the presence of English intellect Stephen Fry, during the filming of the BBC documentary Last Chance to See.
Other birds that featured in the top 10 were the pohowera/banded dotterel, kākā, ruru/morepork, whio/blue duck and pīwakawaka/fantail.
Although a record 55,583 votes were cast in this year's competition – up from 43,460 in 2019 – it faced backlash after more than 1500 fraudulent votes were cast using fake email addresses traced back to the same IP address in Auckland.
Those votes were removed.